


The Most Natural Thing in the World

by dreaming_wide_awake



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Thanksgiving, might get a big angsty
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-27
Updated: 2019-11-27
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:34:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21586939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreaming_wide_awake/pseuds/dreaming_wide_awake
Summary: Clarke has put off going home for the holidays for 10 years, now she has run out of excuses. How will she deal with seeing Lexa again after so long? What will happen between them after so many years? Read and find out.orI blame a post on Tumblr for this.
Relationships: Clarke Griffin & Lexa, Clarke Griffin/Lexa
Comments: 12
Kudos: 146





	The Most Natural Thing in the World

**Author's Note:**

> I saw a post on Tumblr that made the writing wheels in my head turn, this is the result of that. I still fully intend to complete all the other on-going works that I have, I'm just dealing with a lot in my life right now. Drop me a comment and let me know what you think. Enjoy.

Clarke had managed to get out of going home for Thanksgiving every year for the last 10 years, when she was at college and med-school she always had work to be doing, since she qualified as a doctor she’d found a way to always be working, but this year her luck had run out and she really had no excuse to not go. She was sure if she thought about it hard enough she could’ve come up with something, but she figured she may as well get it over with. She’d grown up in a small town where everyone knew everyone else, it hadn’t been a bad way to grow up if she was being honest, but it wasn’t the town that was stopping her going back. It was some memories she knew the town still held, and one particular person who still lived there.

She had learned that the odd thing about memories were the ones that were the best ones you had sometimes were tangled up with the ones that caused you the most pain, and when you throw love into the mix everything just ends up messed up. Those memories for her were all tied up in one person, Lexa Woods. Someone she had, at one point, thought would be a constant in her life. It hadn’t worked out that way. For a while Clarke had thought that everything she’d had with Lexa was due to her being her first love, her first everything really. They had gotten together when they were really young, Clarke remembered loving Lexa before she even knew what love was, at first she just thought it was because Lexa was her best friend. She was 10 years old when she realised that it wasn’t the best friend kind of love. They had been together until they graduated high school.

It had been during their last year in high school that things started to go very wrong. Lexa’s mom had got sick, really sick, so Lexa’s time was split between trying to graduate high school, taking care of her mom and looking after her younger brother and sister. She still managed to fit time for Clarke in amongst everything, looking back now, Clarke had no idea how. At the time it was obviously a bit different, she had obviously known that Lexa’s mom was sick but she hadn’t known how sick she was.

A few days after graduation Clarke and Lexa had a massive fight, they’d had fights and arguments before, but not like this. They’d had plans to go to the same college, Clarke wanted to be a doctor, Lexa had wanted to be a lawyer, but that fight had changed everything. It changed everything to the point that Clarke had gone over to Lexa’s to say goodbye to her younger siblings before she left for college and Lexa hadn’t been there. It had been up to her mom to tell her that Lexa was putting off going to college so she could stay at home and take care of her brother and sister. At the time Clarke hadn’t understood those words as deeply as she should. A month later Lexa’s mom passed away.

x-x-x-x

As Clarke drove her rented car through the streets of the small town she hadn’t seen in years it looked like not much had changed, some of the places she remembered as a kid were still there and rather than hurt when she thought about those memories, she found herself smiling, which was new. A few new places had popped up along the main street of the town, there was a new coffee shop, a couple of new stores, and a new bar. Other than that it was still the same street.

While she was driving to her mothers house she heard a police siren start up behind her, she furrowed her brow as she looked in the rear-view mirror and saw the police car was following her. She glanced down at her dash to make sure she wasn’t speeding before pulling over to the side of the road. Looking into the rear-view mirror again she rolled her eyes and shook her head as she saw who had pulled her over. Octavia Blake, one of her best friends from high school. Octavia had been one of the people that Clarke had stayed in contact with.

As Octavia walked up to the drivers side window, a small smirk on her lips, Clarke rolled down the window.

“Is there a problem Officer?” Clarke asked, amusement clear in her voice.

“This here is a small town ma’am,” Octavia said, her lips pulling up into a smile, “did you take a wrong turn or something?”

“Honestly, I think I took a wrong turn somewhere about 10 years ago.” Clarke said with the huff of a laugh.

“I’ll say,” Octavia replied with a laugh of her own, “thought I’d just let you know who the law is in this here small town…”

“You the Sheriff now?” Clarke asked, making Octavia laugh again.

“We’re all getting together later at the bar, I drew the short straw to be the one that had to ask,” Octavia said with a shrug, “thought I’d at least make it entertaining.”

“Well you succeeded,” Clarke replied with a nod, “text me later with the details.”

“Will do,” Octavia said, “it’s good to see you again Clarke.”

Clarke waited until Octavia had walked back to her car before she continued her drive to her mom’s house. On the way she had to pass Lexa’s house, though from the look of the outside of the house it wasn’t Lexa’s house any longer, she knew from what she’d been told from Octavia and others that were still in town that Lexa still lived in the town, though it was obviously not in the same house.

x-x-x-x

“Clarke, is that you?” her mom called as Clarke closed the front door.

“Who else is it likely to be, mom?” Clarke replied, walking into the kitchen to find her mom making coffee, her boyfriend Marcus was sitting at the kitchen table.

Clarke walked over and gave her mom a hug.

“Welcome home honey.” Abby said.

“Thanks mom,” Clarke replied, before walking over and sitting at the table, “I like what you’ve done with the place.”

“We decided it could do with a bit of work,” Abby said, pouring out three mugs of coffee and taking them over to the table, “we’ve changed most of the house actually.”

“You mentioned that a while ago,” Clarke said with a nod, “when you called me and asked whether I wanted to keep any of the crap in my bedroom.”

“It’s all in the loft by the way.” Abby said with a small smile, “I know you said you didn’t want to keep it, but I thought you might change your mind.”

“Thanks mom.” Clarke said with a small nod, everything that she’d had in her room held some kind of memory, mostly of Lexa, at the time her mom called she hadn’t wanted to keep any of it, but she was glad that her mom thought ahead.

“So, how’s life as a Doctor treating you?” Marcus asked.

“Busy,” Clarke replied, “not that I expected anything less, I did grow up with a doctor as a mom after all.”

“Everything you thought it was going to be?” Marcus said.

“Honestly, yes,” Clarke said with a nod, “some days are harder than others, but I knew what I was getting into.”

The front door opened again, Clarke looked at her mom with a questioning look in her eyes.

“Well, look what the cat dragged in.” Raven said with a big smile on her face.

“Raven.” Clarke said with a smile of her own, standing up and going over to hug her friend.

“I hear that O already mentioned that we’re all meeting up later.” Raven said as they broke apart from the hug.

“She did,” Clarke said with a nod, “I’m guessing that we’ll be going to that bar I saw while driving through town.”

“You’re going to Grounders?” Abby asked, having heard what was said about going to a bar.

“It’s the only decent place in town.” Raven said.

“I just thought…” Abby said, stopping herself at the look on Raven’s face, “never mind.”

“You just thought what?” Clarke asked, looking at her mom.

“Nothing,” Abby said with a small smile, “I was thinking of something else, never mind.”

“Okay,” Clarke said, shaking her head a little at her mom, “I’m going to take my bags upstairs and get a shower.”

When Clarke walked out of the room, Raven walked over to the table and sat down.

“You haven’t told her?” Abby asked.

“If we told her, she wouldn’t want to go, and like I said, it’s literally the only decent place to go in town.” Raven replied.

“And you don’t think that she might want to know who it’s owned by?” Abby said.

“From what Anya said, she isn’t likely to be there tonight,” Raven said, “so we’re hopefully going to avoid any of that awkwardness. Though they really do need to get it over with, Clarke’s here all week after all, it’s going to happen sooner or later.”

“After all this time do you really think it’s going to be that simple?” Abby said, shaking her head a little, “it may have been 10 years but a lot of the things that happened have left deep scars for both of them.”

“I bet you $10 that they’ll be hooking up again before this week is over.” Raven said with a smirk.

Abby just rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“I’ll take that bet.” Marcus said with a nod.

x-x-x-x

When the group arrived at the bar it was 9pm, and already busy. Busier than Raven had expected it to be.

“You guys go to the table, I’ll get the drinks.” Raven said.

Neither Octavia nor Clarke decided to argue with her after seeing the amount of people at the bar, so Clarke followed Octavia to a private booth towards the back of the bar on a small elevated area.

“I have to say,” Clarke said, “this is not the kind of place I expected in this town.”

“The owner certainly has a vision,” Octavia said with a shrug, “and with the new offices opening and tech companies deciding to build here, we might not be such a small town for much longer.”

“Look who’s back in town.” Lincoln said with a smile as the group moved round so Clarke and Octavia could sit down.

“Hey Lincoln,” Clarke said with a smile, “it’s good to see you again.”

“Likewise.” Lincoln replied.

Lincoln was Lexa’s cousin and Octavia’s boyfriend, Clarke hadn’t seen him since she left town. Part of her expected it to feel awkward seeing him again, but it didn’t.

x-x-x-x

“We might have an issue.” Anya said as she sorted out the drinks that Raven wanted.

“What kind of issue?” Raven asked in reply.

“Two of the bar staff called out sick,” Anya said, putting the drinks on a tray for Raven, “with it being so close to Thanksgiving it’s been impossible to find cover.”

“When will she be here?” Raven said.

“When will who be here?” Lexa asked as she walked behind Raven towards the end of the bar, taking her jacket off as she walked.

Raven and Anya shared a look, the look coming from Anya told Raven that this was on her.

“Listen, Lexa,” Raven said, “there’s something that you need to know…”

“Can it wait?” Lexa asked.

“Not really…” Raven replied.

“What’s taking so long with those drinks?” Clarke asked, walking up behind Raven before Raven could give Lexa a heads up.

“Clarke…” Lexa said, shock clear in her voice.

“Lexa…” Clarke replied, her breath suddenly getting trapped in her throat, “hi…”

“I…” Lexa said, before stopping herself, “I have to get to work.”

With that Lexa moved further down the bar to get to work on filling some of the orders of the many people waiting. Leaving a very shocked Clarke still standing there behind Raven.

x-x-x-x

After about an hour and a half of drinking, Clarke slipped out of the bar, telling her friends she needed to get some air. She hadn’t paid any attention to anything that was being said at the booth the whole time she had been there, all she could think about was Lexa. There was a small park not far from the bar, a park that Clarke had spent many late nights with Lexa at when they were in junior high and still trying to figure out exactly what they were. She sat on one of the swings as she tried to get her thoughts in order. She knew that there was a chance she’d run into Lexa again at some point while she was home, she hadn’t expected it to happen as quickly as it had. She lost track of time as she started remembering the many times she had been here in the past.

“Thought I might find you out here.” Lexa said, walking towards the swings.

Clarke glanced back at her, smiling a little when she saw that Lexa was carrying two take out cups, she knew exactly what would be in them.

“Mrs Robertson expects you to pop in at some point soon,” Lexa said, holding out one of the cups to Clarke, “I think she was a little hurt you haven’t already.”

“I only got here this afternoon.” Clarke said, bringing the cup to her lips and suppressing a little smile as she smelt the hot chocolate.

“I’m going to guess that they didn’t tell you it was my bar you were going to.” Lexa said, finally taking a seat on the swing next to the one that Clarke was sitting on.

“Nope, they neglected to mention that,” Clarke replied, “though my mom being shocked about me going there makes sense now.”

“I wasn’t actually supposed to be in tonight, two of the bar staff called in sick,” Lexa said, “so give them a little credit.”

“So, you own that place?” Clarke asked, glancing at Lexa who had her gaze fixed firmly on the cup in her hands.

“Yep,” Lexa replied with a nod, “mom left some money and I figured it would be a good investment, and a steady income.”

“I am sorry about your mom…” Clarke said.

“Yeah,” Lexa said with another nod, biting her lower lip slightly, “it’s been 10 years…”

“Why didn’t you tell me how sick she was, I could’ve done something.” Clarke said, asking a question that had been playing on her mind for the last 10 years.

“So you wouldn’t look at me the way you’re looking at me now.” Lexa said, huffing out a laugh, “Also so you wouldn’t end up wasting your life in some dead end little town… Taking care of my mom and the kids was my responsibility, not yours and I knew that if you knew how bad it was you’d stick around and… I didn’t want this to be your life, Clarke.”

“That’s why you pushed me away.” Clarke said.

Lexa didn’t say anything, she just nodded her head slightly.

“How are the kids?” Clarke asked.

“Honestly,” Lexa said, a smile playing on her lips, “they’re great. Total opposites of each other, but great.”

“They were, what, 4 and 6 the last time I saw them?” Clarke said with a small laugh, “Madi was already a nightmare at 4.”

“Mom always used to say she was a mini me…” Lexa said with a laugh of her own, “that hasn’t changed. She’s a good kid though.”

“You moved house…” Clarke said.

“Yeah, a few years ago,” Lexa said with another nod, “the memories in that place were too much, so fresh start. We’re a few doors down from your mom now.”

“Which she never mentioned.” Clarke said, shaking her head.

“Did you ever ask?” Lexa asked, looking at Clarke, a soft smile on her lips.

“No…” Clarke replied quietly, shaking her head a little.

Lexa nodded her head a little in response, knowing that’s what the answer would be. They sat there in silence for a while longer, Clarke realising that she’d left her jacket at the bar when she started to feel the cold. Without a word Lexa stood up, took her jacket off and wrapped it over Clarke’s shoulders, like it was the most natural thing for her to do in the world.

“I should head back to the bar,” Lexa said, “it was good seeing you again Clarke.”

“You too.” Clarke said with a nod.

Clarke didn’t realise until Lexa had already disappeared back into the bar that she still had her jacket.


End file.
